Hi everyone! We actually got a bit of sun today,,,,got a few sprinkles too,,,,but mostly overcast with sunny breaks! Yeahhhh a high of 18C! *L* I dug out quite a few hostas today and a bunch of lilies, then I sprayed round up and because it didn't rain this time after i sprayed, the round up may actually kill the stuff... *L* Then I can start filling in the 10" bed and replanting all the hostas and lilies and irises I have dug out. I pruned the Japanes Lilac tree today as it had big branches coming up from the bottom of it and didn't look like much of a tree. I left two big branches as without the roses to hide us from the street the tree gives us a bit of privacy. My hostas are getting sooooo big I'm going to have to move them which I don't want to do, seeing as I found out how heavy them are with the last big one I moved. With all this rain they are just growing like gang busters! I'm going to have to hire a student or something to help move them! When I replant the hostas in the new beds, I'm going to remember to give them lotsssss of room! I didn't think they would grow this fast in zone 2. *LOL* Hubs helped me today pick up the patio stones, and move a few pots around as I was trying not to lift anything heavy. I also planted a few more annuals and fertilized the pots, just a bit. I didn't want to give them too much liquid fertizlier as they are so wet, but the leaves are going yellow so they needed something. Yesterday we had one of our best friends come up for a day from Sudbury and he brought an exchange student with him from Japan. She was so nice, even our little nasty dog, Bijoux liked her, which was a first in 8 years of having him. He ran downstairs to see his buddy Randy and didn't bark at her or growl or try to bite her or anything! I was amazed! I didn't know she was here and just let bijoux go ahead of me down the stairs. I kidded her and said we would adopt her and Randy said she was actully looking for a family here in Canada. But we are 7 hrs from Sudbury, so that wouldn't work out too well. *L* Why can't son find a nice girl like her, smart, nice, a sense of humor? geezeeee The son of another friend of ours is back in town from out west visiting and he wanted to jam with Gary. So while I was out gardening Gary and Vince went in the house and started making music. I could here them outside and they sounded good! Vince who is only 23 and grew up with our son, always wanted to play with Gary and has grown up hearing Gary in bands,,so he was glad when Gary said that he could come in the house and jam with him. *L* He was so excited. *S* Tina, I use to get the woodchips from the town, but now the mill takes care of chopping and chipping any trees that have to come down, so no more chips for me.. *sigh* Gary bought me another mosquito inhibitor so if I do pass out in the garden and have this thing running, the bugs aren't suppose to be able to find me, though I could afford to lose a few pounds, but doing that from black fly bites and mosquito bites is not my idea of losing weight the best way. *L* You have 90 acres? Wow, that is amazing. Gary and I could of bought 90 acres, but there was no house on it then. The people that sold it split up the land and filled in the swamp and got rid of the hundreds of marsh marigolds and peeper frogs. We walked by there about 8 years ago and it was so different when we lived just around the corner and use to go for walks thru the fields and listen to the frogs at night. I'm so sorry we didn't buy it, our dogs would of loved it! *L* Janet, yes I'm too busy! It makes me tired just thinking of it too. *L* Do u grow your veggies in a lazenga bed too? When your spaghetti squash puts out a fruit, u can use one of your many rocks to put the fruit on it, so it won't rot and it will grow faster from the heat of the rock too. I use to put mine on bricks. Marcia,,,, ah don't trust them around your flower beds? Got ya, I understand completely! *L* Solar power mosquito inhibitor, it an inhibitor with a light on it that is run off batteries that are powered by a solar panel, it also runs the fan that blows the inhibitor stuff around. It is suppose to be able to hide us from the mosquitoes so when a person, say me, is passed out in the garden, the mosquitoes won't be able to find me... *LOL* Gary went to Canadian Tire and got me another one for 20 bucks without the solar light thingy. The inhibitor stuff is suppose to last from 2 to 3 weeks, or 15 hrs if u run it constantly. *LOL @ Marcia* Beer helps with a chest cold? hmmmm good to know for future reference... *L* 160 acres? *falling down in dead faint* WOW! Do u know how many hostas u could plant on that? And it wouldn't matter how big they grew either. *LOL* Take care everyone Debbie :-)

Hi Everyone *waving* Still waiting for contractors here but hopefully this week. *S* Also have to empty the garage as our neighbours are causing a stink as it's 2 ft on their property, since 1928, but they want it off. So we will have to start clearing it out whether we are going to take it down, make it narrower or move it. I will have to call about a dumpster tomorrow as I have a lot of gardening pots and junk in there....or I should say "WE" have a lot. *L* Hi Kay, welcome to the group!! *S* You can grow Brandywine in Sudbury? wow, aren't those things humongous? I usually grow tomatoes, but this year was the first time in 20 years I didn't grow any. I usually grow Siberian, Early Girl and have tried Stupice, and I few others I can't remember now. I have clematis, I lost a few this year so I just have Jackamannis left now and they did great! Is your soil alkaline? If it isn't u maybe need to add some limestone around them. Hi Cordel, Welcome to the Group!! *S* You are a few hours south/east of me,,, I think. I know I go by the tri towns on the train when I go to Toronto. I also try to stretch the zone in my zone 2 area, I can do it pretty easily if the snow cover is deep enough. Last winter we didn't get our five feet of snow so I lost quite a few things. This summer I guess we got your rain up here *S* I grow a lot of hostas as they like a shadier spot, I grow a lot of mine in full sun too. Marcia, yes it was too bad about the trip, don't think we will get another chance as we were going with another couple so it wasn't costing us much at all. I like the look of those Martagon lilies but I don't have any...yet. *S* What kind of bulbs did u order this fall? I was so disappointed with the ones I got from Walmart last year that didn't come up that I'm not getting any from them this year. The goatsbeard that u are talking about are they white & green? I made the mistake of planting some quite a few years ago and they took over so I pulled them out,,, again and again and again. LOL It took me a few years to get them to stop coming back,,,so be careful. What hosta did u plant? That rose is beautiful and the leaves look so healthy! I hope it will winter over for you. You gave/sold your son your property that u wanted to retire to? Sounds like they are closer to u now so u can see Darius more often maybe? *BWG* I love her name by the way. *S* She sure is a cutie and she is 3 months already? Wow time does fly! I can hardly wait until February when our grandchild is born and I am so hoping it is a girl. I love buying all those cute clothes....LOL Hope u get over your cold soon, Take care everyone Debbie :-)

Evening! Boy has it been cool out there! And i don't mean far out cool either! LOL We went from hot and dry to cold and wet - nothing inbetween. Well, the past weekend wasn't bad, but i was doing laundry like crazy to take advantage of the nice weather (sheets, comforters), so i didn't do as much in the yard as i could have. The fall bulbs are starting to come in now, so i've been planting the past couple of evenings. Even with all the rain we've had, the ground is still powder dry in places. Of course, i've over-ordered and am now wondering where the heck all this stuff is going to go! Typical, typical! :) I've brought in a whole whack of containers that i couldn't bear to give up on - daturas, impatiens, begonias, geraniums, coleus, alternanthera, hibiscus.... I really don't know if i'm going to be able to keep them all. I tried to pawn some off on my daughter but she said no way. Darn! I wish i had a good place to keep things more or less dormant. Dh talks about building a root cellar, but so far it's just talk. Debbie, both of us really like swiss chard, but we always have way too much of it and dh wants me to can it. That's the part i hate - canning it is an all day job. The deer have been at other stuff too. They chewed off a whole bunch of stuff in the container i have out near the road. I wasn't too worried about that either, but i don't want them any further than that - the restaurant is closed!! No deer allowed! Funny about your cranberry turning red already. Mine is still green. One of the burning bushes has turned but the other (only 4 feet away) hasn't. A lot of trees have lost all their leaves, but some haven't even turned colour yet. Weird. I emptied the pond out once but the rain has filled it part way again. And i've fished out about eight shrews over the past couple of days! Maybe i should put a little ladder in there! LOL Not much else going on and i'm getting sleepy. I was trying to stay up because my friend from out west wanted to chat, but she isn't on yet. Yawn! G'night! :)

That's the first thing i thought of when you said you took the garage down - more garden space! LOL Big job, eh? And yes i know what it is to wait for men to get things done. Lots of experience with that! When it's their own things, that's a different story, but when it's something you need done, it sits on the back burner. Boy, have we had the rain here. We barely have two days in a row where it doesn't rain. I've slowly been getting things done. Most of my containers are dumped, but i have most of my geraniums still in the mini-greenhouse. I want to bring them in, but dh has to fix something on the window where they're supposed to go - see above paragraph. LOL On the weekend, my son's gf's daughter and i potted up a bunch of bulbs i had bought for her and buried them in the vegetable garden. She was supposed to get a garden made for her this fall but there has been way too much other stuff that they've had to do. This way, they'll be ready for the spring. I told her i'd buy the ties, etc. to make her garden myself. I also just started raking leaves on Sunday. There just hasn't been the time, or the right weather for doing it. At least the vegetable garden is cleaned out. Dh wanted to till it, but it has been just too wet. The forecast now says it will be sunny for the next little while, but that changes like the wind - there's no sense in counting on that! You said you were "bagging up" your amaryllis. Most of mine still have green leaves. Do you have to wait until their leaves die back? And do they have to be put in a cool dark place, or does just dark work? I'd love to have the darn things rebloom for me, but they never do! Well, it's bedtime now (she said, yawning). Talk to you again soon! Marcia